Dan Wesson owners-need your input please

I've been wanting one forever, and finally took the plunge. Bought the Pointman 9mm

Broke out the owner's manual today, and holy moly.

300 - 500 rounds for the break in. And it states that after every 50 rounds, to field strip/clean/reapply oil.

I'm not the most patient person, and if I have to break it down every 50 for the 1st 500.....

Please let me know how y'all broke yours in.

Thank you.

Dang...I love Dan Wesson's but only have DW revolvers.

I'm with skinnerback that I've got a Dan Wesson 357 mag that I love but never shot one of their pistols. That's an involved break-in procedure.

Same here.

That’s a pistol with excellent tolerances but without the hand polishing and the price that goes with it. In my opinion it’s well worth it. It’s likely to jam on you the first 100 rounds or so. If you follow the directions it will operate like a 1911 costing 3x as much. I had a rock island Tactical I refinished and hand polished. It shot better than $1200 1911s I’ve owned. Had to put the slide in a vice to close it up first but I was greatness. I say it’s worth the effort and ammo cost. It’ll likely shoot great after a 100 rounds but don’t forget the cleaning. If you do it will still shoot great but not as well as if you do the cleaning. Good luck. I’m waiting on a range report.

You can also take the spring out and manually operate the slide with oil. This will reduce rounds fired during the break in significantly.

I'd strip it down before I shot it and clean everything as good as I could then re-oil it. Id shoot the heavier bullets for the first couple hundred or hand polish all the necessary stuff. Not that I find taking apart any 1911 much fun but its probably worth it to do it right.

Shoot it and dump oil on it.... it’ll run

Pretty typical break-in directions for a 1911 Janie.

I own several and break-in varies in that different springs are used for different models.

As mentioned already, the tighter the tolerances the more often you need to clean them. I own Colt, Kimber and Smith and Wesson. I've never felt like I have to clean any of them too often. They aren't bad to take apart at all once you've done it a couple times. Your friends at 1911 Academy can assist if needed. I would get their opinion on that model for the break in procedure.

Many thanks y'all. Mark, I already thought about taking the pistol to the 1911 Academy. Always been very happy with them.

Janie, you have bought a VERY fine 1911 !!! Congrats. I really regret selling my Specialist. With the PM-9 you have a perfect "every use" pistol. !!

Get a 1911 take down tool

https://www.brownells.com/gunsmith-tools...-prod26727.aspx

it will make getting the tight fitting slide stop easy to get in and out with out causing the scratch on the slide. Every 50 rounds will fly by and you can perform the basic field strip at the shooting bench.

Run it WET during this break-in time, all the contact points well lubed. It will be messy but worth it.

action is tight and like glass

color me jealous.

How about breaking it in with a wire brush on a Dremmel tool?

Honestly never heard of the PM9 before buzz's post. Looked it up and that seems like a freaking sweet pistol! Congrats!

I have 2 DW and my process was shoot often and keep wet. Clean when it looks dirty,and shoot more. I love them both and they have never let me down, I will never sell either one.

I think you will come to love yours too.

I think that would be a little too aggressive. It needs to mate well with the surface in which it contacts. Cotton and jewelers rouge (spelling?) works well but you can get too aggressive even with that.

Never bought into that, just shot the hell out of mine until I felt guilty then, I cleaned it. I don't run it wet due to where I'm usually using it is pretty dusty and all it does is collect excessive dirt. Never had any issues with mine, it a 10mm bruin although I doubt it make a difference. Only time it hangs up is when my kids shoot it but I think its due to their grip because it never hangs up on me.

Doing that to a Dan Wesson is significantly frowned upon and shameful. You do not do that to this type of pistol.

I love mine. I would let the slide and frame break in together vs using a tool. I use Shooters Choice FP10 oil. People pay for tight tolerance, I could never go back to a cheap/sloppy fitting 1911.

I was hoping he was kidding

There is no telling lol.

Do you want the gun to work or not? A wire brush is not going to ruin a gun. It just turns a long expensive process into one minute deal. Manufactures that put reliability above tight tolerances do the same thing in the factory.

I run 1 dab of oil on each side of the slide on every one of my semi autos, need had an issue like that. I don’t like running them “wet” with oil because that oil will carry dirt and un burned powder into places it shouldn’t be. It also makes the feed ramp very dirty and sometimes difficult to clean due to heat.

I throw my Sig across concrete and in the dirt, sometimes dunk it in the lake, really gave it that cool
“battle worn” look

Janie, I have an older C-Bob, It runs for about 350 rounds before it needs to be cleaned. Break in will vary with the individual pistol, some are smooth from the start, some take some time, my C-Bob took about 150 rounds.

There really is no help for you... SMDH lol

Not trying to bash you here but have you ever shot a nicer 1911? If not I wouldn’t recommend it because it gets expensive and you just won’t want to go back. Reliability and tight tolerances can be had together. The topic of this thread was regarding proper breakin. You’re right, you can take a $1000+ gun and make it just as sloppy as a cheaper one. But why. Stop at a target masters one day and rent a Wilson Combat. It will all become very clear.

+100000000000000000000

I bought one of the first DW PM-9’s ever made. In 2007 I think it was. I always cleaned it when I thought it was dirty, I gave it no special break-in treatment. All 1911 makers will tell you to field strip and clean quite often at first. I prefer my PM9 to a Fusion 9mm I have. I also have a PM1, 45, made back when Bob Serva owned Dan Wesson.

I am no expert on the 1911, but I do have an antique Remington Rand, and a Springfield Operator, I purchased unfired. On the Springfield, I loaded it, and shot it, for I don't know how many hundreds of rounds, with zero failures. A year ago I thought "hmmm, maybe I'll take it down, scrub, oil, and reassemble." Loaded it up, and shot it some more. What got me in that mind-set was shooting a match in 2011 that had some pistol stages. A friend had a new Colt, that would occasionally fail to eject. He would run the slide manually and keep shooting. He said he'd disassemble and clean when he got home. Of course no one wants to depend on their life with a pistol that is unproven, so I figured just practice with it, make it run, and one day it'll be broke in. An uneducated guess tells me my Springfield does not have as tight of tolerances as a Dan Wesson, but I don't know.

Janie,

I carry a Les Baer everyday. Les' recommendation is to just leave it alone, go shoot it 500 rounds and then clean it, which is what I have done.

It runs like a champ.

I’m jealous.

Thank you, I really enjoy it.

I started to carry because of a very specific threat.

I viewed it as an investment cost in taking care of myself, my wife, and employees.

With that perspective, the cost seemed reasonable.

If a person knew in 60 seconds you would be in a fight for your life, what would they pick to have in their hand?

That is how I look at the issue of what to carry.

The cost is small in comparison to the cost of truck, health insurance, a house payment, and yet, every bit as important.

We SIG shooters are not known for babying our equipment, treat them too nice and they start thinking they're special or something.

Range time today. Wow. Cleaned it and shot 450 + rounds. Completely blown away by this pistol. Zero issues and ran like a champ.

Beyond pleased.

Glad to read this report. Sounds like you have a good one

How bout a pic of the pistola?

Glad to. Fellas, thank you again for all the feedback. So worth saving up for this.

where did you buy Janie? Good deal

Very nice Ma'am, I like.

Very nice looking pistol, congratulations Janie.